Vroom Droom Adventures

  Despite the unexpected shifting landscapes of our plans we have a lot to be thankful for. First and foremost is the hospitality of our friends Clementine and Paul who have gracefully let us extend our stay for an unexpected few days. We arrived in Cadier en Keer near to Maastricht with an appointment to have the local garage fix a few items on the camper before we departed to Spain. When the garage had to order a part they did not have in stock, two extra days were added to our visit. Looking on the bright side, this gave us extra time to enjoy the beautiful area surrounding Maastricht and catch up with our friends. The area is peppered with limestone formations and interesting caves due to extensive mining in the past. We were all set to go this morning when on the news last night, new travel restrictions were announced. This morning we have been trying to reach the French and Spanish Embassies in order to figure out if we can still travel through the countries to get to our hou...

  The camper is now clean and somewhat organized. We have had a great week in Zeeland. In between wind and rain storms there were some sun breaks. We took advantage of these occasions and headed to the beach on bikes. It is a 4 km ride and after locking our bikes on the top of the dunes, it was possible to take a nice walk looking out at the Noordzee.  Today we are leaving Casa Piadosa in Zeeland and heading to pick up Anika in Rijswijk (and see her new flat) on our way to Vita's parents house in Zoelen. Zoelen is a nice area in the middle of The Netherlands with a lot of agriculture.  We cannot wait to catch up with Karin and Michel who we have not seen for three years.   It is a lot of planning, but fun too. We have an appointment in a small town near Maastricht called Cadier en Keer for work on the camper which is a white Mercedes Strata Sprinter from 1997. So far the best name idea for the camper comes from Elizabeth's father: The MSS Sabattical (Batti). We want ...

  Date:   October 16  Subject:   Safe and sound in Zeeland, NL   After over 30 hours of travel we finally arrived yesterday evening in Bellingwolde, Netherlands and spent the night in this cute tiny house. It is situated in the amazing garden of our friends Bert and Tinto. Not a bad way to start our 10 day quarantine! On the way there we rented a car, bought a third-hand Mercedes Strata Camper which is 23 years old! It was quite the adventure for us to return the rental car because I have not driven a stick shift or driven in the NL for a very long time! Saying goodbye to Tinto and Bert in the morning. We drove 4 hours to get to Zeeland in the camper. Inside the camper with the luggage tossed on the passenger benches. Elizabeth on the camper for scale! Tomorrow Anika and Vita will come to visit us in Kamperland, Zeeland. We have a week for trip organizing and bureaucracy (insurance, licenses, sim cards and the camper title transfer). We plan to stay in Zeeland f...

Everything fell into place pretty smoothly and quickly! We have a flight today to Amsterdam (a recent Covid hotspot   ). We rented a car and will drive 2 hours to an area in the North called Groningen. Fingers crossed that the 2nd hand camper van we are planning to buy works out. 10 days of quarantine follow. We plan to spend the first night in the camper outside Bert and Tinto’s house and will drive 4 hours South to Zeeland on Friday. There we can quarantine in a house in a small town near to Veere. This is a summer house that Herman’s parents own. We plan to see Anika and some family before heading to a small town at 1,100 meters elevation in southern Spain where we landed our first house sitting for 3-5 months! We plan to share travel updates on this blog site. We will miss home and our friends and family, but are looking forward to this long awaited “empty nest” (still actually a very full nest now) adventure! Onward, Elizabeth and Herman Attachments area